They have stood behind their benches, jaws chomping on gum, arms crossed tightly, and brows tightly creased when they have expressed their disagreement with the referees. In the Stanley Cup Final, there has been no mistaking Peter Laviolette or Mike Sullivan for NHL coaches, albeit ones fortunate enough to retain more hair than most of their counterparts.
There was a time, however, when both Massachusetts men made their marks with sticks in their hands and school backpacks over their shoulders instead of whistles around their necks. Laviolette was a hard-working, energetic defenseman at Westfield State. Sullivan was a cerebral, smooth-skating 200-foot center at Boston University.
It is with such memories in mind that Ben Smith, who coached both players when they had fewer wrinkles and smaller waistlines, has thoroughly enjoyed watching his two ex-pupils go about their business of pursuing the Cup.
“He’s just so determined. He always kept going,’’ Smith, the former Team USA women’s coach and Northeastern men’s team boss, said of Laviolette before Game 5 of the Cup Final. “Sully has that same determination. In some sense, one guy is the plowhorse and one is the thoroughbred. But they’re both pulling the wagon at the same pace — 2-2 after four games. They’re guys that, in their own way, get their message across to their teams.’’
In 1986, as an assistant to Jack Parker, Smith coached Sullivan as a BU freshman. Two years later, as a Team USA assistant to Dave Peterson, Smith coached Laviolette at the Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Sullivan, a schoolboy star at Boston College High, was on Smith’s radar early in his role as a recruiter. It was not the case for Laviolette.
Massachusetts is a small state. It is even smaller when sifted through hockey’s filter. It is somewhat unusual, then, that Smith, who hails from Gloucester, responded quizzically when general manager Art Berglund called to ask him about the defenseman from Franklin as the Americans started the Olympic selection process.
“Never heard of him,’’ Smith recalled of Laviolette. “That was the joke with the Olympic team that year. I was the Boston guy, the BU recruiter who should know every kid in New England.’’
Smith’s unfamiliarity with Laviolette reflected a playing career that had gone relatively unnoticed. Laviolette played at Franklin High. He was never drafted. He went on to a four-year career at Westfield State. After graduating from college, Laviolette spent his rookie season with the IHL’s Indianapolis Checkers, where he scored 10 goals and 20 assists in 72 games. It was a good pro start. But not one that promised NHL longevity.
So at a summer camp in 1987, Smith set his eyes on a player who, until then, had been a mystery. It did not take long for Laviolette to capture Smith’s attention.
“I came back and said, ‘We’ve got to bring this kid to our camp,’ ’’ Smith said. “He came to our camp and made that team. He didn’t make it necessarily because of his physical skill level. The mental part of the game is a skill level, too. He knew what to do. He persevered. He had an understanding of what had to be done. He was a determined guy.’’
Laviolette, 23 years old when the puck dropped on the Winter Games, was one of the team’s graybeards. Brian Leetch and Craig Janney were 19. So was Southborough’s Greg Brown. Laviolette, Chris Terreri, Steve Leach, and Jim Johansson were the only players coming off pro seasons. With Laviolette serving as a depth defenseman, the Americans finished in seventh place.
“Fifth, sixth, seventh guy, role player, penalty killer,’’ Smith said. “He had presence with the group in regards to being gung-ho. He was such a team guy, a rallying type of player. We had a young team. We were pretty green back there. With Peter being a college grad and having played a year in the minors, it gave us a stability that Coach Peterson appreciated.’’
Sullivan’s pedigree was richer. As a BC High senior, Sullivan scored 26 goals and 33 assists in 22 games. Surprisingly, Sullivan did not become a double Eagle. At Chestnut Hill, Sullivan would have joined a powerful group that included Leetch, Janney, Brown, and Kevin Stevens.
Instead, as a BU freshman, Sullivan scored 13 goals and 18 assists in 37 games. Following his freshman year, Sullivan was drafted in the fourth round by the Rangers. Sullivan grew into an all-situations center and leader. By his senior season, Sullivan was captain of a starry group. Tony Amonte, Shawn MacEachern, and Joe Sacco each scored 20 or more goals.
“Take a guy like David Quinn or Lane MacDonald — someone with complete efficiency, full extension, a textbook skating motion. Sully was a little bit like that,’’ Smith said. “The strength he gained really propelled him into becoming a terrific player. If you look back at the year he was captain, it was a star-studded team, and he was the leader of that group, on and off the ice. He was a heart-and-soul guy.’’
Laviolette played 12 career NHL games, all for the Rangers. He represented his country at the 1988 and 1994 Olympics. The defenseman spent his final pro season in Providence in 1996-97, scoring six goals and eight assists in 41 games. Two years later, after spending his first season behind the bench with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, Laviolette returned to Providence and led the P-Bruins to the Calder Cup.
Nashville marks Laviolette’s fourth NHL stop as a head coach, following stints with Philadelphia, Carolina, and the Islanders. In 2006, Laviolette led a no-name defense (Bret Hedican, ex-Bruin Aaron Ward, Mike Commodore, and Frantisek Kaberle made up the top four), backstopped by rookie dazzler Cam Ward, to the Cup. In comparison, Laviolette’s current top four of P.K. Subban, Mattias Ekholm, Roman Josi, and Ryan Ellis make up the best such group in the league.
As a player, Sullivan logged 709 career games for the Sharks, Flames, Bruins, and Coyotes. As a coach, Sullivan’s path has been more circuitous. After the Bruins let him go following the 2005-06 season, Sullivan practiced apprenticeships under John Tortorella with the Lightning, Rangers, and Canucks. Sullivan resurfaced in Pittsburgh in 2015 following the ouster of Mike Johnston, reenergized the club, and coached the Penguins to the Cup.
It was a season off the bench, however, that Smith believes served his former student well. In 2014-15 — a gap year, if you will — Sullivan worked on the Blackhawks’ player development staff. Sullivan spent the season learning and thinking about the game from a different perspective.
“Sully is one of those guys who’s smart enough,’’ Smith said, “to look around and see what’s going on. ‘Who’s skinning the cat over here? Who’s building a better mousetrap over there?’ He got back in a good situation. Look at what he’s done in the last 18 months.’’
During the Final, most observers have been pulling for one team or the other. It has pleased Smith very much to have two good reasons to root for both.
WATCH OUT
Aging viewership a concern to game
If you have been watching this season on broadcast, cable, or satellite TV, chances are good you can remember Led Zeppelin on the radio and “Jaws’’ on the movie screen. According to data compiled by research firm Magna Global for SportsBusiness Journal, the median age of NHL viewers in 2016 was 49. This is up from 42 in 2006, and 33 in 2000.
Among 16 sports, the NHL’s 16-year rise in median age between 2000 and 2016 is the second-largest after pro wrestling (26 years). In comparison, the NFL rose from 44 to 50 over the same period.
Industrywide, TV, not just in sports, is experiencing a decline. Customers are cutting the cable cord. Streaming is widely available. DVRs allow for viewing at any time with no need to watch commercials.
Magna Global’s data, however, doesn’t necessarily indicate that young viewers are turning away from hockey. The assumption is that with each season, more look to their devices instead of their TVs to consume NHL content.
“What we think is happening is given the availability of the immediacy of checking scores, stats, and highlights online, it’s changed people’s attention spans,’’ said Brian Hughes, Magna Global’s senior vice president of audience intelligence and strategy. “Particularly younger people, who are the most engaged in the online world. They’re seemingly more likely to get those short hits of content rather than sitting down for a two-, three-, four-hour telecast.’’
Hughes foresees a time when all NHL content, including live action, is available through a multiplatform app. Its arrival is not imminent.
Even amid increasing age and fewer eyeballs, live sports TV still flexes its muscles. “House of Cards’’ watchers can stream the show any time. NHL enthusiasts, however, have to watch the playoffs live.
This year, older, well-to-do fans have tuned in. According to Hughes, viewers of the NHL playoffs have a median household income of $80,000, higher than those watching the most recent World Series ($73,000), NFL playoffs ($67,000), and NBA Finals ($67,000).
The trick is for the league, its teams, and its TV rightsholders to gird against the time when these viewers go away. The product has to be good enough to convince viewers not to change the channel. Younger viewers have to be served well via their phones, laptops, and tablets.
To do so, Hughes believes all parties have to continue personalizing the experience for their customers. Examples include choosing a camera trained on a star player and watching hyper-local advertising.
“Given the connectivity with all the different devices, the opportunity is there to be more personal to fans,’’ Hughes said. “They can deliver a more personalized product for fans of a particular team. One of the benefits of mobile is that it’s a very personal device. People like it when content and ads, for that matter, are more tailored for their interests.’’
ETC.
Some outside eyes would aid process
Hockey’s competition committee, led by NHL senior vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell and NHLPA special assistant to the executive director Mathieu Schneider, features heavy hitters. The players include David Backes, Mike Cammalleri, Cory Schneider, and Daniel Winnik. Peter Chiarelli, Jim Nill, David Poile, and Doug Wilson represent the GMs. Coaches Ken Hitchcock and Barry Trotz participated in the committee’s latest recommendations, although they were not voters.
Maybe that’s part of the problem.
These are indisputable insiders. They have spent their lives in the sport. They are not creative, outside-the-box thinkers when it comes to improving the game.
As such, the committee’s recommendations, issued last Monday, represent hair-splitting to a significant degree. The insiders issued two resolutions, both microscopic.
First: A team that ices the puck should not be allowed to call a timeout.
Second: If a team is on the power play and an attacking player hits the puck with a high stick in the offensive zone, the resulting faceoff will be in the neutral zone.
Are you kidding?
The coach’s challenge is abhorrent. Scoring chances are hard to create. Defenders clog shooting lanes. The instigator penalty allows cheap-shot specialists to do their thing without fear of retribution.
These are just some of the shortcomings evident to casual observers — the ones that are paying big money in person and dedicating precious viewing hours on the couch. Their voices should be considered when the NHL and NHLPA dedicate their time to adjusting the game. It could lead to tangible improvements, not incremental. The insiders have swung and missed.
Separating office and bench
Of the NHL’s 31 GMs, only four have coaching experience: Lou Lamoriello (Providence College, New Jersey), Jim Rutherford (Windsor and Detroit of the OHL), Ron Francis (Carolina), and Kevin Cheveldayoff (Utah of the IHL). The modern career paths of GM and coach proceed along different tracks with little overlap. It wasn’t always this way. In 1996-97, Mike Milbury’s first full season as Islanders GM, 16 of the Walpole native’s counterparts had also stood behind a bench: Lamoriello, Rutherford, Jack Ferreira, John Paddock, Harry Sinden, John Muckler, Bob Pulford, Bob Gainey, Glen Sather, Bryan Murray, Neil Smith, Bobby Clarke, Craig Patrick, Mike Keenan, Phil Esposito, and Pat Quinn. After retiring as a player, Milbury became coach of the AHL’s Maine Mariners after first expressing to Sinden an interest in becoming a GM. “He let me run my own ship and make my own mistakes,’’ Milbury said of Sinden. “It was something I’ve always been thankful for. He was right. A really good manager can understand coaches. Not all managers today have coaching experience, but it sure as [heck] helps.’’
Flames being patient in net
Dallas acquired Ben Bishop from Los Angeles and signed the ex-Lightning netminder to a six-year, $29.5 million deal. Carolina landed Scott Darling from Chicago and locked him up to a four-year, $16.6 million deal. This leaves Calgary as the lone team without a long-term puckstopping commitment. It’s possible the Flames will turn back to Brian Elliott or ex-Bruin Chad Johnson, but both are scheduled to reach unrestricted free agency on July 1. The Flames, like the other teams, are waiting on the Golden Knights to make their goalie selections, which could include veterans such as Marc-Andre Fleury or Jimmy Howard. The Flames could retest the post-expansion market and chase the goalies Vegas bypasses, or deal with the Golden Knights if they end up with a surplus of netminders. GM Brad Treliving’s other route is to see if an incumbent is available. The best option would be Mike Smith, who has two years remaining at $5,666,667 annually, according to capfriendly.com. Treliving was formerly the Coyotes’ assistant GM and is familiar with the smooth-moving Smith’s skills. The 35-year-old went 19-26-9 with a 2.92 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in 2016-17 for the lowly Coyotes.
Loose pucks
With Linus Arnesson signing with Orebro HK in Sweden, it marks the second time in the last two seasons the Bruins have said goodbye to a second-round pick. Arnesson was the Bruins’ 2013 second-rounder. Last year, 2011 second-round pick Alex Khokhlachev signed with SKA St. Petersburg . . . The NHL did a good thing by allowing for two rest days between Games 4 through 7 of the Cup Final. The extra downtime helps players recover more than one day off. “These extra days in the finals, I think, really helps make for good hockey,’’ Predators coach Peter Laviolette told reporters in Nashville after Game 4. “It helps make the game really be good and have the best of the players, theirs and ours, on the ice for what would be a good game.’’ . . . Pittsburgh (30.9) and Nashville (28.0), respectively, reported the top two US markets watching Game 4. Buffalo was third-highest (11.2), underscoring how much of a ratings behemoth the Sabres will be if new GM Jason Botterill gets them straightened out. Botterill has two foundational pieces in Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly . . . Sidney Crosby logged 18:06 of ice time in Pittsburgh’s 6-0 Game 5 rout, half of which he spent bopping P.K. Subban’s head into the ice. Upon retirement, if he wishes, Crosby looks like a natural at running a jackhammer.
Philadelphia is the other team besides Calgary still hunting for an ace goalie. The Flyers have Michal Neuvirth under contract for 2017-18. But Neuvirth is coming off a tough season: 11-11-1, 2.82 GAA, .891 save percentage. Neuvirth made a career-high 48 appearances with Washington in 2010-11, ahead of future starters Semyon Varlamov and Braden Holtby.
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
